Last night (10/31/08) around 9PM, my grown son and I were in the backyard checking out Saturn and Venus with my new telescope. As we were calling it an evening, we both observed an object moving across the cloudless night sky passing directly over head from North to South. The object appeared to be a bright star, yet somewhat dimmer than the aforementioned planets. I commented to my son that ���that was a funny looking aircraft���, as no strobe lights or directional markers were apparent. I viewed the object with binoculars as my son watched with the naked eye, while the object changed speeds to much slower, shifted abruptly several times to the East while still moving South, totally stopped once in mid air, and then resumed it���s Southward travel at a speed 2-3 times faster than when first observed. Total observation time was 1-2 minutes. I would have assumed the object to be a large satellite. However, I doubt that satellites have the ability to change direction and speed. Or, to stop dead still in while moving in orbit. This sighting makes at least a dozen that I have personally witnessed in the Westlake, Louisiana area in the past five months.SummaryAround the first of June and again about the end of the month, I noticed round gray object's in the sky from my backyard several hours before sunset. I would not argue that either could have been weather balloons, except both were somewhat odd. The first was observed totally stationary for 10 minutes on an extremely windy day with 20-30 mph winds. I had the object's position well referenced with the top of a basketball goal from the chair I sat in. The object could best be described as looking like a silver BB held at arms length against a blue sky. After ensuring that the object was stationary for the entire ten minutes it was observed, I quickly retrieved my binoculars within 20 seconds only to find that the object was gone. (OK, maybe I just lost the well referenced object in the very clear sky). However, while observing the second identical object later in the month; the object was clearly seen with the naked eye and with binoculars. Within a few seconds of observation with my binoculars, the metallic looking gray ball simply appeared to fade away without any movement at all. I am pretty sure a weather balloon could not do this when seconds before it was clearly visible without binoculars. After the above two sightings, I Goggled "gray ball UFO" and did find other folks that seem to be reporting what I had seen (appearing/disappearing gray balls in the sky). One guy stated that he believed that these objects were actually readily visible if you took some time to look for them. (I accepted this as a challenge and devoted my clear sky evenings to bird watch and keep an eye out for "other flying objects". I did not observe any thing unusual until August 24, when "daytime stars" were observed seven different times over a 12 day period appearing and disappearing in the clear blue sky. "Stars" were seen up to 40 minutes at a time, mostly appearing stationary. Once, a star was "eclipsed by another "moving star". Twice, "stars" appeared to have smaller white round objects flying around them. Three times "star" sightings were followed by the appearance of military aircraft within minutes of the "star" disappearing. At one time a "star" looked somewhat dim and appeared to have the appearance of a silver object shaped like a hamburger bun when looking at it with binoculars. I was seeing so many "stars", that I started taking notes on my observations after a few sightings. (Photo and notes follow). After seeing "stars" seven times, I quit taking notes, but I did observe three large bright "stars" about four weeks ago as I stepped outside my house at 06:25 AM heading to work. As these stars looked very odd and out of place, I called my wife out of the house to take a look at them. At this point, one of the stationary stars started moving across the sky and then vanished. (My wife and myself observed this event, but neither can come up with an explanation). About three weeks ago, while at home taking the trash out around 8:30 PM; a large bright light with at least a dozen multicolored, extremely fast flashing strobe lights behind it was observed. I originally figured that this was an aircraft flying with it's landing lights on, although it made no apparent noise when it appeared to be much closer than most planes that I can easily hear. This was odd enough to cause me to get my binoculars and take a look, especially since I have hardly ever seen aircraft with more than maybe 3-4 strobe lights.. I watched the object fly about a minute when the "landing lights" went out and the dozen or so multicolored strobe lights scattered across the sky (half headed North and the other half going South). I no longer believed that this was a conventual aircraft! Two weeks ago while traveling over the I-10 bridge in Lake Charles, Louisiana around 9:30 PM, my wife and I observed a group of 6-8 multicolored strobe lights above the Isle of Capry Casino which is located next to the bridge. The object appeared to be about 100 yards above the casino which is just South of the bridge, and 50 yards above the bridge. The strobe lights were arranged in a rectangle shape and did not move the entire time that we crossed the 2 mile long bridge (about 2 minutes). Although we were probably within 100 yards of the object as we crossed the bridge, no structure was observed within or around the strobe lights; nor were any noise heard within our vehicle such as from a helicopter. Based on the spacing of the strobe lights, the object appeared to be much larger than a helicopter, yet smaller than a jetliner. The only logical explanation that I could come up with as I viewed this object was that perhaps someone "quickly" erected a wide base, very tall tower at the casino during the day while I was out of town. However, there is not; nor to my knowledge has there ever been a tower at the casino site. I followed the car ahead of me on the bridge off the bridge and to the casino property below the bridge in Westlake, LA.. As the vehicle that I followed arrived at the casino, they pulled over on the side of the road and appeared to be looking in the air above the casino. I continued to drive past this vehicle and proceeded to drive into the casino garage in order to access the garage rooftop parking. On the roof of the casino parking garage, I exited my vehicle and searched the sky for the strobe lights which should have been visible directly above, only to find no visible sign of any type of strobe light anywhere in the area. Again, I can not explain what was seen sitting stationary for two minutes above the casino, and then was not seen anywhere in the sky one minute later after getting off of the Interstate. I am not sure what any of this stuff is, but would say that I do not believe that any of them are weather balloons, conventional aircraft, planets, stars, or satellites. ���Day star��� SummeryThe appearing/disappearing daytime starlike object appeared and disappeared seven times during daylight hours over a period of 12 days. Three of the sightings were followed by the appearance of military aircraft. I started taking notes as follows the third time that I witnessed the unusual star-like object that appears during daylight hours and then disappears.08/22/2008 (Friday)While sky gazing at 7:15 PM , I noticed a very bright object in the sky due South of my residence in Westlake, LA at 45 degrees above the horizon. The object looked similar to a star, except it appeared to be about ten times larger and brighter than any star or planet that I have ever witnessed. It should be noted that sunset this evening was at 7:46 PM and normally stars would not start to appear until about 30 minutes after sunset. (This "star" was out about an hour early with the sun still shining brightly). I watched the object for several minutes and it appeared to be stationary. I then went into the house and got my binoculars to have a better look at it and still it appeared to look only like a extremely large and bright star. I would say that the object appeared to be very high in the sky but not beyond the atmosphere.At 7:30 PM, I called my wife out of the house to witness the unusual day light "star".I continued to watch the "star" until 7:55 PM (a total of 40 minutes) and to the eye it appeared stationary, but apparently it was slowly moving to the West as it was now clearly located directly South West (a 45 degree change in direction), but still 45 degrees above the horizon. At this point, the very bright clearly seen "star" got fuzzy and appeared to be starting to pull apart and quickly faded away against the cloudless sky. About a minute after the "star" faded away, an Air Force B-52 flew directly over my house at a low altitude flying South Westerly and flew exactly past the last position of the large daylight "star" that had just faded away. I had called my wife back out of the house to witness that the "star" was now gone, as the B-52 aircraft passed overhead. It should be noted that this is first time that I have ever witnessed a B-52 in flight since leaving the military in 1982. I believe that the closest active military air base to my home in 200 miles to the North in Shreveport, LA and any military aircraft in our area is somewhat rare.I remained outside to document the time that readily recognized "normal" stars start to appear with the first dim star appearing at 8:00 PM and the second at 8:15 PM. The extremely large and bright daylight "star" that faded away against a clear sky never reappeared in the sky by the time I ended my watch at 10:00 PM last night.(8/23/08) SaturdayAt 7:40 PM, I returned to my backyard in Westlake, LA and started a through watch to the South and South West direction. (The same direction that I had observed the "daylight star" a day earlier.At 7:50 PM, again a very large and bright starlike object appears suddenly to the South West against the still clear blue sky. (Sunset was at 7:46 PM and the sky was still very well lit up at this time).I watched the object for a minute or so to make sure that it was indeed a stationary object. I then attempted to get the attention of someone inside my home by knocking on the windows while trying to watch the object at the same time. (I did not want to take my eyes off the object just in case it faded away into thin air as it did the day before after observing it for 40 minutes).After knocking on windows for another minute or so to no avail, I momentarily took my eyes off the object three times and was easily able to re-sight the object each time until the third time and then the object was gone when I looked back up. I remained outside watching for another hour without ever seeing the very large and bright "daylight star" again. However, during this time frame all of the "normal stars" that I normally see each evening began to slowly and dimly appear starting around 8:15 PM. I did not notice any "normal stars" moving or disappearing.I do not know what this very large bright starlike object is, but I am almost positive that it is not a star or a planet.8/28/08 (Thursday)19:35 Observed reappearance of daytime starlike object against a clear blue sky 45 degrees above the horizon SW of my residence in Westlake, Louisiana. Unlike the first two sightings of this object, this time the object was not extremely brilliant. I then observed the object through binoculars and it appeared to be metallic and chrome colored, shaped like a hamburger bum.19:37 At this point, I phoned my son who was located 10-15 miles SW of my residence and presumably that much closer to the object and ask if he could sight the object. He easily located the object in the same relative position in the sky to him as it was located to myself. When asking my son if he saw the star, he stated that "the object was not a star as it was defiantly metallic, but he was unable to identify what it was".19:45 Shot six still photos of the object on a Sony digital camera. (Object appears in the photos as a round white object against a clear blue sky without showing the chrome color or a detailed shape due to the long distance of the object).19:47 While attempting to locate the object in the viewfinder of my video camera, my son called back and said that the object had disappeared. I looked back up to confirm that indeed the object was gone and no longer appeared against the clear blue sky. I continued to search the sky for 30 minutes without the object reappearing.09/03/08 (Wednesday)19:45 Reappearing starlike object appears high in the sky directly above my residence in Westlake, LA. Object remained stationary in the sky.19:47 Called my son out of the house to watch the object while I laid flat on my back observing the object straight up in the sky with binoculars.19:50 Observed a much smaller yet very bright starlike object moving towards the original larger starlike object and then it stopped. At this point, I ask my son if he saw the second smaller object without binoculars and he stated that he did not. After about ten seconds, the smaller object moved toward the larger object again. As the smaller object met the larger object, the larger object appeared to become eclipsed by the smaller object and a corona of light could be seen around the larger object with the light at the center of the larger object blocked out. At the point that the larger object became eclipsed, my son stated that he could no longer see the object without binoculars. I continued to watch the "eclipse star" for a minute with binoculars and then it faded and appeared as faint light in three separate spots and then faded out completely. 20:05 Observed a large twin engine turbo prop military type aircraft flying low directly over my residence located in a populated neighborhood.20:12 Observed a large commercial airline flying low and banking a turn directly over my residence. (It should be noted that large aircraft are almost never observed flying low over my residence located in a populated neighborhood).09/04/2008 (Thursday)19:40 Starlike object appears in the South, 70 degrees above the horizon as clouds begin to break at my residence in Westlake, LA.. The object could best be described as a normal star in appearance against the still blue sky in the background. Object appears in wrong part of sky to be a star and 20-30 minutes early for a normal star to appear. Observed object for 16 minutes with binoculars. During the time observed, the object changed from a pale star appearance to a yellow flattened shape. 19:56 Object begins to fade against a still clear cloudless portion of the sky and then appears as faded scattered light in three separate locations in the sky before the object is completely undetectable. 20:06 What appears to be a military fighter jet passes directly over my residence flying very low.It should be noted that military aircraft are seldom seen in this area over a residential neighborhood, nor are low flying aircraft of any type ; with the exception of an infrequent Piper or crop duster during the daylight hours).20:16 What appears to be the same fighter jet makes another very low pass over my residence for a second time.20:30 Ended sky surveillance without starlike object returning.09/30/2008 (Tuesday)20:00 (approximately) Observed bright light (much larger and brighter than a star/planet) SW of Westlake, LA moving NW. Object was originally assumed to be a large aircraft with its landing lights on at a high altitude. This was strange enough to get my attention, but in addition the craft had approximately 12 strobe lights in the colors of white, green, and red blinking extremely fast (faster than a aircraft strobe). I have only seen white strobes on aircraft prior to this and sometimes a slow blinking red light. Decided to check things out with my binoculars and then observed the large light go out and all the smaller multicolor strobe lights split apart half of them heading North and the other half heading South the whole time each multicolored strobe spread out a great distance from each other. After putting my binoculars down in order to try to figure out what I had just witnessed, I was no longer able to pick up a visual on any other lights.10/01/2008 (Wednesday)06:25 Stepped out of my residence at Westlake, LA heading for work and immediately noticed 3 bright stars due South 70 degrees above the horizon which seemed very much out of place. After observing the three stars about ten seconds, the largest and brightest star started moving South, a bit faster than an aircraft would travel. I called my wife away from the porch in time for her to also observe the "moving star" just before it disappeared seconds later at about 60 degrees above the Southern horizon. I thought that maybe this was just a super bright satellite at first, but usually a satellite would not just disappear against a crystal clear sky (especially, a "super bright satellite").